Sound quality is the quality of the audio output from various electronic devices. Sound quality can be defined as the degree of accuracy with which a device records or emits the original sound waves. Sound quality is also the physical pleasure or fatigue experienced by a listener.

In a live setting the skill of the musicians, the tonal quality of their instruments, and the physical traits of the venue determine sound quality.

In a playback setting, sound quality is characterized by the same traits as in a live setting but is also affected by the recording techniques and equipment used, from the microphones at the session, through the pressing at the record or compact disc factory, to the quality of electronics and speakers used to recreate the sound in a listener's home.

For digital recording/digital playback, sound quality depends on the range of sound which is sampled, the rate at which it is sampled, and the various conversions that occur in any sound reproduction system. With lossy codecs such as MP3 and Ogg Vorbis, sound quality is a quantifiable factor that determines how much sound data the encoder is allowed to discard in order to reduce file size. MP3-encoded sound is generally CBR, so its quality is defined by its bitrate, in kilobits per second (kbit/s). Quality of Ogg Vorbis-encoded files, which are most commonly VBR, is a decimal value ranging from –1 to 10, with –1 being suitable only for low-quality voice.